PREPARE

Preparing Your Home For Sale

Introduction

You can help get the results you want by staging your home. Staging is not about redecorating your entire home. It is about rearranging what you do have and making a few improvements to appeal to more buyers.

If you don’t want to do this yourself, ask your agent to recommend a professional stager. It can pay for itself by helping sell your home more quickly and for a better price.

Create Great Curb Appeal

Make the first impression count. Clean up, paint front windows and doors, keep the lawn mowed and the bushes trimmed, plant or pot colourful flowers, clear the sidewalks.

De-Clutter

Less is more in creating home appeal. Keep counters free of personal items, pare furnishings down to the bare essentials, pack up those cute knickknacks.

Make the House Shine

A home in immaculate condition sells more quickly – and for more money. Wash windows inside and out, make sure kitchen and bath features gleam, shampoo or replace carpeting, clean and dust throughout, take care of any pet odours.

De-Personalize

You want buyers to imagine themselves living in your home. Pack up those family heirlooms and personal photographs.

Remove Favorite Items

If buyers don’t see something, they won’t want it to be part of the deal. Remove fixtures or window coverings now if you’re going to take them with you.

Rearrange Closets and Cabinets

Tidy, organized closets make a positive statement about your home. Keep medicines and other personal items out of sight, pack away much of your clothing, neatly arrange shoes and shelf items.

Show Your Home in the Best Light

Your home needs to be at its friendliest when buyers go through it. Open the drapes and let the sunshine in, have fresh flowers on display and set a comfortable temperature.

Lighten up at Night

Turn on the excitement by turning on all your lights, both inside and outside, when showing your home in the evening. Lights add colour, warmth, and make prospects feel welcome.

Keep a Low Profile

Nobody knows your home as well as you do. But agent know buyers – what they need and what they want. Your agent will have an easier time articulating the virtues of your home if you stay in the background.

Be Absent During Showings

Try to leave your home during showings to give potential buyers comfort when they are viewing your home.

Don’t Apologize

No matter how humble your abode, never apologize for its shortcomings. If a prospect volunteers a derogatory comment about your home’s appearance, let your agent handle the situation.

Watch Your Pets

Dogs and cats are great companions, but when you’re showing your home, pets have a talent for getting underfoot. So do everyone a favour, keep Kitty and Spot outside, or at least out of the way.

Think Safety

Homeowners learn to live with all kinds of self-set booby traps: roller skates on the stairs, extension cords, slippery throw rugs and low handing overhead lights. Make your residence as non perilous as possible for uninitiated visitors.

Be Prepared

You never know when your agent may need to show your home on a moment’s notice. So make your beds and tidy up each morning, just in case.

Think Volume

Rock-and-Roll will never die. But it might kill a real estate transaction. When it’s time to show your home, its time to turn down the stereo or TV.

Don’t Turn Your Home into a Second-hand Store

When prospects come to view your home, don’t distract them with offers to sell furnishings you no longer need. You may lose the biggest sale of all.

Avoid Crowd Scenes

Potential buyers often feel like intruders when they enter a home filled with people. Rather than giving your house the attention it deserves. They’re likely to hurry through. Keep the company present to a minimum.